Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1893 — M’KINLEY’S ANSWERS. [ARTICLE]

M’KINLEY’S ANSWERS.

WHAT THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN IN 1890. MRt>w He Would Have '’Me.n Compelled tto Reply if Certain Inter Alfa torles Had Been ; Put to Him—He Nony%ag a Big Job 'Ot 1 His Hands. ____ Questions for McKinley. During has speech at Akron,'©kio, on Sept. HI, Governor McKinley, in one of hislighte of sarcastic eloquence, called upon his “distinguished and able” opponent, “the very author of the tariff plank eff the last Democratic national platform itself, to advise the country exactly what the parly- now in power Will do' with the tariff.” He wants "everything “in detail-and with particularity." And then Sie began with schedule A, and wertt through each ®chedute, asking *whAt will he do” with this or that article. His astonished audience will probably be surprised to learn that Mr. Neal was not rendered Speechless frondthe stunning effects of these categorical questions. Undoubtedly Mr. Neal can defend himself, but suppose he plays “turn flfbout” with McKinleyiand asks a few similar questions of the .great, tariff expert—the" very author not' merely of a ■tariff plank but of a Whole bill, and the ifar-famed McKinley bill at that. “Mr. McKinley, in ‘the spring and oummer of 1890 you'were engaged in rnadking your great bill. If I had theh ■•sked'you, ‘What will you do with tin iplate?’ what could you have told me? »©n.ly l this: ‘Mr. Cronemeyer is fixing 'up paragraph 143 to suit himself. I really can’t tell you what he will do.’ “How about cutlery? What will you <do with it?” “I can’t tell you. Mr. W. ■Rockwell’s wishes must be respected. You know he is a big manufacturer of ■pobketknives.” "“Surely, Major, you can tell me what will be done with table cutlery?” “Sorry, but Mr. Charles S. Landers, who represents the makers of table cutlery, ■has not yet handed in I his corrections and amendments. We shall undoubtedly print his memorandum word for -word. ”

“Can you tell me what will be done with firearms?” “Not just yet—that is, ■.unless the manufacturers want us to adopt the duties proposed when they aappeared before this committee.” “Would you kindly inform me what 'we may expect on woolen goods?” “I would gladly do so if I could. I must rrefer you to Mr. Isaac N. Heidelberger, who will adjust duties in behalf of the ■ wholesale clothing manufacturers, who will frame the two clauses prescribing the taxes on women’s and children's dress goods.” “That seems strange. Certainly you can give the farmers some idea of what you intend to do with wool. ” “My intention will not develop until Judge Lawrence and his National Wool Growers’ Association make known their demands. ” “Just one more question, Major. -You are of course able to say what will be done with steel rails, structural steel, and other articles in the great metal schedule ?” “I’m glad you're going to let ■up on ' these annoying questions. How'Can il tell what conclusion Mr. James M. Swank, Mr. Henry W. Oliver, and • other members of the American Iron and Steel Association will come to? Undoubtedly we will give them J'ustiwhat they want. You see, as Mr. Jingley says, we want to make a bill which Shall be ‘consistent, comprehensive, and complete, with all the different parts properly and justly related.’ To make certain that all will be perfect, we have decided to let the manufacturers who are to be protected fill in their own clauses. This is enentirely proper, as they have been the financial backbone of the Republican party in the past, and we hope they will 'be in the future. Their wishes are entitled to the greatest consideration. You see how it is. I would like to oblige you, but under the circumstances I can’t answer your questions. ” —Byron W. Holt.

Opera-Boutte McKinley. Everybody will remember with what impressive solemnity McKinley pointed out in JLB92, on stump after stump, the fact that owing to the McKinley tariff ■our exports for the fiscal year had grown so large, as to force the importation of $200,000,000 of foreign gold. Some annoying < critics brought: to the ’Governor's attention the statistics of the Treasury Department, wherein it •appeared that the balance of that year's .gold movement was actually on the export side. This made no difference to .McKinley. He answered that if the ’balance of trade had not been settled in gold, it had been settled in something else, and that was the same thing, and he continued thenceforward to ;announce to admiring audiences, exactly as before, that we had imported $2OO;0OO,OOO in gold. We have ino doubt he still believes that the gold really came here, by some subtle and " secret process, and we are quite as sure that he will believe, long after business has comfortably settled down to its old routine, that the wildest kind of panic is still prevailing because the McKinley tariff has been threatened. Fortunately for the national common sense., few people except McKinley himself take*McKinley seriously any longer. It has, moreover, done no small service to the cause of publicenlightenment that the willful blunders of the Shermans and Culloms are invariably reproduced, in the broad lines of caricature, by such operabouffed performers as McKinley and Clarkson. A few years since, people used to suspect that McKinley's tariff arguments might after all be sound, because their conclusions were the same as Sherman’s. Nowadays tilings are reversed, and the fallacies of serious protectionists are turned into general laughter by McKinley’s rediictio ad absurdum.—New York Evening Post.

Short, Sharp Work Best. The Ways and Means Committee t would do well to abridge its tariff hearings. Most of them are merely threshing over old straw. The sooner the country knows exactly what will be the details of tariff changes the sooner will business matters become adjusted to the new conditions. To the extent of the uncertainty as to what the changes will be the tariff question tends to make people cautious; and this is natural, for the merchant does not wish to buy now a large stock of what may soon be cheaper if the tax is removed. Such a condition of affairs was inevitable. It must be experienced in order that the benefits of correcting the wrongs of McKinleyism may be secured. fiut Congress should do all it can to shorten the period of preparation of a new tariff bill and to let the people know as soon as practicable just what they can expect. The necessities of a depleted treasury are such that a layman cannot divine what Congress may find it necessary to change and what to leave as it is. All he wishes is to know upon what basis to buy and sell. Until he does know, of course, he will not make extensive transactions. That is the extent of the effect of tariff agitation upon general business. It is not

Wiff Te'fbrffi is 'feared, for wrf peopki are not so fickle as to turn about •in •». few short months and become frightened at just what they, such little while age, vbted overwhelmingly in •te/or of. —Berne Sentinel.

The Protection Bird in Distress. Are we, hhe people of this United States, all ifools or children without reasoning 'faculties? Evidently the protectionists think we are, or they would not tell us such fairy stories about the tariff. Just listen to McKinley while'he is talking tariff tax theory to tne <£>hio children: “They say a protective tariff is a tax and a burden upon the people. It is a tax upon the foreign producer, and his welfare is not our first concern." And the youngsters ■ clap their hands and shout. They are out for a holiday and want hian'to tell them more about his won-: derftil tariff and about Santa Claus and “•Jack the Giant Killer.” Down in Washington some of McKinley’s compatriots are working the practical or business end of protection. They talk in a more serious vein than the Governor and would feel hurt if the members of the Ways and Mean® Committee should clap their hand® and laugh after each lamentation. Do these manufacturers talk in Washington as McKinley does in Ohio about ’ this tariff tax business? Listen! Mr. Leopold Moritz, of Philadelphia, is speaking earnestly in behalf of the 'retention of the duty on buttons made of bone, horn, etc. He says that in 1889 before the duty was raised foreign manufacturers and importers brought in foreign goods and cut prices ao'that the American industry was on the verge of ruin and extinction. Would he talk this way if the foreigner 'was paying the tax promptly? Then* comes Mr. William Wilkins, of Baltimore, a manufacturer of curled hair and bristles. He says any further reduction of the duty on curled hair and bristles would drive his business to the wall. But what is the difference it the foreigner is punctually paying the'tax? Mr. R. W. Lesley, of the American Cement Company, now rises and pleads against any reduction of the duty Of 8 cents per pound on imported cement. He is chock-full of statistics—as are nearly all of the manufacturers—to prove that day wages are higher here than in Germany—just as if .the* committee were ready to quarrel with him on this point. He is wasting:his time and breath, acccording to McKinley, who ought to know. The price of imported cement must be . just tthe same under either a low «r a high duty, because the duty always comes out of the foreigner. Here comes Joseph Wharton, Vice President of the American Iron and Steel Association, and a whole flock of well-fed iron and steel manufacturers of Pennsylvania, Jlllnois, Alabama, and Tennessee. Nearly all are millionaires .and very important personages. Time is precious with them—worth anywhere from SSO to SSOO a day apiece. They are -sacrificing it, however, in behalf of their dearly beloved workingmen, and the committee looks grave .while each'one tells how anxious he is to pay high wages to his employes, and how sorry he will be to reduce wages or close up his mills, as he will be compelled to do if the duty be reduced. Why is the wherefore of this, Gov. McKinley? Are the foreign manufacturers not philanthropic enough to pay all charges against them, if levied in your name? We know it must be a great strain on theii' generosity to have to pay slls duty when they sell us SIOO worth of window glass; or $146 for every SIOO worth of pearl buttons they sell us; or $162 when they sell us only SIOO worth of worsted cloth, worth less than 30 cents per pound. But we did not think they would betray your confidence. If they have not done so, your manufacturing friends are grossly misrepresenting you at Washington. Or is it only a misunderstanding between the theoretical, or Ohio wing, and the business, or Washington wing, of the great protection bird? Its wings are not flopping together. Is the bird in distress? B. W. H.

Republican Brigandage. There is one Republican newspaper that is sufficiently besotted with partisanship to urge the Senators of its party to make the preservation of the McKinley tariff and the Federal elections law “the price” of aiding in the repeal of the Sherman act. Putting aside the morality of this form of blackmail for ransom, the suggestion is that the country, in order to get relief from one bad Republican law which it has condemned, shall be compelled to endure two other bad Republican laws which the voters have also condemned. Fortunately this sort of brigandage does not commend itself to men having the responsibilities of public office upon them.—New York World.

William’s Big Job. The Hon. William McKinley opened his canvass for re-election as Governor of Ohio in an elaborate set speech, mainly devoted to the herculean task of showing that the financial depression through which the country is passing is not due to the monetary legislar tion cd the Republican party, but to a fear of the repeal of the McKinley bill. In this opinion Mr. McKinley stands •opposed to all the Boards of Trade and commercial bodies in the United States, except, possibly, that of Denver, and to the practically unanimous conviction of the whole world of finance. Possibly he is right and all the rest wrong, but he has a hard task before him if he expects to convince them of their error.—New Age. Sugar, Corn and Cabbage Bounties. Nearly $17,000,000 has been paid in bounties to sugar-growers under the outrageous McKinley law up to Sept. 1. This is direct robbery of the people, as the bounties collected by tariffprotected manufacturers are indirect robbery. There is absolutely no more right or justice in taxing the people to pay bounties to the growers of sugar than there would be in paying bounties to the growers of potatoes, corn or cabbages. This is one big leak in the revenues which the Democrats will stop as soon as they can get at it.

Three Stages. The protected darlings of the Republican party stand hats in hand beging alms of the Democratic Ways ami Means Committtee of Congress. Give us just a year or two longer, begs one, as if the warning that protection must go had not been fairly and clearly and repeatedly given by the people more than a year or two ago. Whether as a squalling infant industry, an insolent, full-grown monopoly or a senile beggar for yet a little longer time to plunder, the protected industry displays a greed that defies satisfaction.—New Age. Here You Have It. In the North Sea lived a whale, McKinley saw him spout. He pnt high tariff upon oil And shut the duffer out. Those monopolists who import cheap foreign labor are again becoming very anxious lest a reduction of tariff duties should prove injurious to “American industry.” The protected manufacturers have much advice to offer the Ways and Means Committee. The people registered their testimony on the Bth of last November